Still no power for some

FEA CEO Hasmukh Patel explains the reason for power cuts faced by people in the country since Monday afternoon. Picture: JONE LUVENITOGA

THE FEA is working round-the-clock to restore power in affected areas around the country especially in the Western Division.

Authority CEO Hasmukh Patel confirmed yesterday that some areas in the Western Division were still experiencing power blackouts as a result of a lightning strike that damaged a fault in Nadarivatu on Monday.

Mr Patel said the damage may be $30,000 to $40,000 however he wouldn't be able to confirm as work was ongoing.

"Viti Levu customers experienced a power blackout around 4.20pm yesterday (Monday) which was caused by a lightning strike on one of our transmission lines," Mr Patel said.

"We were not able to restore power supply in full in the Western Division and the prime reason being there has been a permanent fault on the transmission lines that transports power from the Wailoa Power Station to the West.

"This transmission line operates at a voltage of 132,000 volts and that line has a fault on it and it is out of operation right now."

He said as a result they were not able to transport hydropower from Monasavu into the Western region of Viti Levu.

"We are supplying only 30 per cent capacity to the West because we have limited diesel capacity to meet the demand.

"We are only able to supply some power to our diesel power stations which are situated on the western part of Viti Levu. But I must admit that both have not been able to fulfil the total requirements therefore we are only looking after the central services like the hospitals, the water pumping stations and we try to fill the part of business zone as much as possible."

Independent generators were also set up in Rakiraki and Vuda which caters for the Lautoka, Ba and Tavua districts as well as Sigatoka and Nadi.

"We had promised our customers that at first light this morning (yesterday) we would try and find out where the fault is."